Conventional technologies for intranets provide a private Internet for use in organizations (i.e., companies, schools, governments, etc). Typically, an intranet utilizes the same browsers, software, servers, etc as the Internet, to serve the members of the organization, but the intranet, as a whole, is generally not accessible by the general public. Members of the organization who have access to the intranet, can also access the intranet remotely, such as an employee of a company telecommuting from home.
Often, as in the example of an intranet of a company, some pages of the intranet are made accessible to the general public. For example, a company intranet may have web pages, such as those relating to future company strategies, that are accessible to only employees of the company, and other web pages, such as those advertising job postings for the company, that are intended for the general public.
Sending information (such as web pages advertising job postings for the company) outside of an intranet is achieved through the use of a gateway. A gateway is a type of router that connects an intranet to the rest of the Internet. All information from the intranet that goes out onto the Internet goes through the intranet's gateway. The gateway transforms the content (i.e., web pages on the intranet) contained within the intranet such that users outside of the intranet can access the content. In addition, any hyperlinks contained within the content are also accessible by users outside of the intranet.